Mardi Gras is tomorrow, and in New Orleans, that means one thing: a parade featuring Rex, King of Carnival.Mardi Gras parades begin days earlier, and every parade organization – called a krewe – has its royalty.But Rex and his Queen, along with their court of Maids, Dukes, and Pages, occupy a special place in the revels.

Rex traces its roots to 1872, and their royals have been drawn from the most prominent of New Orleans families.The men named Rex are accomplished civic leaders; their consorts are chosen from the season’s debutantes.

Over the years, Rex and his court have worn some fascinating names – a mix of old Southern tradition and French influence.Here are some of my favorites, drawn from decades of Mardi Gras’ reigning royals:

An inspiration for everything from vampires to voodoo, from zydeco to the Krewe of Zulu, Louisiana has been a colorful melting pot of divergent cultures for centuries. Cajuns from Canada, Creoles and others of Haitian, African, Italian, Spanish, or Native American descent, all come together to form a mélange of backgrounds, and in point of fact, names. Most share a history of French language and Catholicism, even if it’s not by blood. While these may not be the choices in use today in the Bayou, they have been culled from historical documents, maps, and folklore from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. The majority are either French proper, or my favorite, Frenchified. Still more trace their roots to Classical Greco–Roman civilization, deep Southern culture, or are somewhere farther afield and include a curious preponderance of the letter Z.

So come on! Allez-y! Chew on these names (and some maque choux), prepare to bare all for those beads, and laissez les bon temps roulez!